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29 February 2016

Is This Internet Worthy?

A friend and I were talking earlier today about our daily lives at the marina. What’s really worthy of being posted on Facebook or blogged about? Isn’t much of what we do really, really, really boring? Sure, we live on boats, but, still, it can be pretty dull at times.

Or is it? Maybe people do find our daily happenings interesting.

Well, let’s put that to the test. Here’s what I got up to over the past few days. You be the judge – is this really worthy the internet? By the way, my mom gets the deciding vote.

1 – I’ve been cleaning all of the teak in the interior of our boat and applying lemon oil to it. This is taking a lot longer than I thought. I should have known better. Doing anything on a boat involves moving stuff from one section over to another section and then back again. When you live in a place with around 300 sq ft of room, there aren’t a lot of places to pile stuff. It’s chaos. But, the good news is that it’s a lovely smelling form of chaos. The lemon oil is doing an admirable job of camouflaging the fact that my holding tank needs to be emptied.

2 – I talked to Scott every day, as I always do. We discussed a whole range of exciting things like the fact that he made some spaghetti sauce with venison sausage, recycling in Scotland and this article on the polluted water that they’re draining from Lake Okeechobee out to the coasts of Florida. The sugar farmers are getting heat because the chemicals and fertilizers they use drain into the lake which then affects the coastal environment. It doesn’t sound good. I feel very conflicted about my love of sugary treats vs. the impact of sugar cane farming on our waters.

3 – I bought yet more plastic storage containers. I’m not sure you can have too many plastic storage containers on a boat. I found a few items getting some mold and mildew growing on them, so I’m trying to encase as much as I can in plastic to keep the moisture out.

4 – I scoured the internet for info on LED bulbs so that we can change ours out. They seem expensive.

5 – I ate some chocolate that my mom sent me.

6 – I thought about what a great mom I have and how much I miss her.

7 – I bought waterproof Gorilla Glue to fix the teak shower mat floor thingy in our head/bathroom which is falling apart. Some people suggested I use epoxy, but that seems too hard. So, I’m going to give Gorilla Glue a try instead. I thought about getting this boat project started. I didn’t.

8 – I thought about doing laundry. I didn’t.

9 – I read a few articles on the US election that a friend of mine in New Zealand posted on his Facebook account. I’m amazed at how much interest Kiwis have in our election.

10 – I took pictures of illustrations in an old book on South America that we picked up somewhere. We really don’t have room to be carrying this book around with us, so I decided to take pictures as a keepsake and donate it to the marina book exchange instead.

11 – I took a picture of my computer keyboard and turned it into the graphic that you see at the top of this post. Procrastination at its finest.

12 – I made a list of projects to accomplish this week.That was an accomplishment in and of itself. I think I deserve a nap.

What mundane things have you been up to lately? What's the most boring thing you've done lately?

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Apart from talking to Scott every day, your life sounds a lot like mine. I won't add whether or not I think that's boring, but I will say that the Gorilla glue is a good choice. David rebuilt our teak shower grate several years ago and it's holding up better than ever, just watch how much glue you use because it expands . . . a lot. As far as LED lights go, the cost depends on what you're looking for and what you want. I can be super-cheap, so when we changed ours out (25 of them) we decided to order them directly from a Chinese provider (we did a test run of 3 or 4 bulbs first to see if we'd like them) and ended up making the switch for under $75 (we have 25 G4 lights). They're not the quality of the bulbs that cost $10 to $25 a piece, but they work well and cost us very little in terms of money and amperage. If you're interested, I think I ordered them at www.dhgate.com. And yes, it takes FOREVER to lemon oil all the wood in a boat! Have a great week.

Thanks for the LED source - will check it out. I know someone else who bought Chinese LED bulbs and said they were much cheaper. Also good to know that David used Gorilla Glue too and that it worked well.

Can't wait to see your mom's vote. The problem with mundane, is it is often the random things that someone finds interesting - like the lemon on the teak. I need to explore that one a bit. Food storage containers - not so much. Elections: I perk up at the word New Zealand - but sadly I think the interest here stems from a rolling eyes in disbelief and making fun rather than passion.

She didn't really vote per se - although I'm sure she loved this post :-) She did send me some procrastination tips. Apparently, making lists is the key to getting stuff done. If she does something that wasn't on her list, she writes it down and then crosses it off right away in order to feel a sense of accomplishment.

Blogging is a great time waster and I've thought of giving it up and using the time more wisely, but that lasted about 1 week. That lemon oil thing sounds interesting. I have to re-oil our teak soon but we have some sort of (cheap) oil that keeps coming off far too easily. See? Your post was useful !

I know the feeling all too well. Been a week since my last post as we have been doing some rather mundane and non-boat-related stuff. But, I figured at least my parents would like to know what is going on so I did a post. It surprises me what people find interesting so I don't tend to filter too much based on perceived interest level.

As for the lights...I don't know what kind of fixtures you want to convert to LED, but I've found with minimal wiring, those stick-on LED strips can be a good, and economical, means of converting lights. I've done fluorescent fixtures as well as incandescent ones. I agree that some of those LED bulbs can be silly expensive, but the stick on strips can be had for as little as $7 for a 5 meter strip (enough to convert several lights). I have several posts on my blog, just search for the "LED" tag. Reading through some of that will at least help you procrastinate a bit more. ;-)

Someone mentioned the lights can be harsh. Unless your eyes just don't like any LED light, the issue is probably the color. Bright white is...well..operating room like. Warm white or soft white would be more in line with an incandescent bulb's more yellow-ish light. When I did the white fluorescent fixtures, I liked combining the two with the versions of the strips I bought. Thought that produced the most pleasing result (for me - a little brighter without feeling like an operating room). Different manufacturers make slightly different colors for warm white, so you might shop around and see which ones you like the best.

I have also used LED bulb replacements in some locations. Prices can vary but if you search the internet (you wanted to play on the computer more, right ;-) ) you can usually find some better deals. Most of my exterior lights have bulb replacements.

As my husband will no doubt tell you the internet is the reason I don't get a lot of boat projects done! - Thank goodness he does. We (the royal we) have also changed most of our fluorescent lights to LED - using the cheap strips. They're great on power though the light can be a little harsh.

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